Jas0nRN

Are you serious AmaurosisFugax (i hope everything cleared up by the way)? You have a PhD and don't understand this? Perception is key to being repsected. Some men and women do not respect people that have weird hair and clothes. That why we have standards in almost every hospital about our appearence. Many male nurses complain about the color of scrubs because they rules are written by women for women without considering the consequence on men. I work in kentucky (from Cleveland Sounds a bit like you were venting. Did something happen at work that set you off?

Since this forum is so old this is more for other guys that have this problem. I expereinced this before as well. If your good looking it will happen more. There is a respiratory tech that everytimes he on the floor the nurses, even the older one suddenly have a question and monopolize his time. GHe really is a friendly guy but I noticed lately that he is extremly professional almost cold with the big flirters. You will need to set strong boundries, not because your a prude but because it will make life a lot easier. I don't tolerate much gossiping and let people see me roll my eyes when it get catty. The exception is if I think someone has really been wronged but that's different. The other thing I've lerned to do is go after those who are complaining when they have no right to. This doctor went off on me when I did was..." and I think he should... If what the nurse did was wrong they know they won't find a shoulder to cry on unless again if the doctor was over the top. Even then I always encourage action and this by itself limits some of that kind of s***. If you expect them to confront the other nurse or make a complaint whiners and gossips will avoid those topics altogether. I don't answer the "Do you think I look fat, hot, my hair, my outfit". i tell people "Unless where sleeping together I don't have to answer that question." Most women laugh because they really do know how uncomfortable it makes men. I don't flirt with anyone except the nurses over 60 (i'm 30) and have kids my age. usually its safer since the average over 60 women knows that that kind of relationship is friendly. When given extra attention during clinicals I would immediately says "thanks for the info I think my friend _______(female classmate) would benefit from that too." or "Ooh that sounds awesome, wait a second while I get ____. "The end results was that I was loved by my classmates and I avoided unwanted attention. The ones who were being sincere didn't mind and the one looking to flirt stopped. The piece of advice about talking a lot about your wife is also good. I've noticed that also works well too. Some women assume that if your not talking about her you don't care (which is stupid since most of us don't talk as much anyway). Good luck, Jason RN

I agree that an ICU would probably be bset for you. Med-surg your often too busy to even look at results duringthe day shift. ICU will not only allow you to make more decisions but be able to see what those decisions were based on. regardless of what you decide to do a few years as a nurse will enable you to learn some of those labs, lung sounds, and assessment skills that will be the foundation for being a provider. Nothing worse than a med-student who is more worried about trying to figure out what to call a breath sound instead of figuring out what the diagnosis is. I went straight back to NP school upon getting my BSn and have found full time work and full time school to be overwhelming and so am cutting back. With two small kids being an ICU nurse might enable you to do this in more manageable chunks. A few of my fellow students have dropped out b/c tehy felt like they were missing too much of their kids childhood. Its a hard decision. If you do speak Spanish I can't tell you how badly I want you to be an Np or MD. So few speak spanish well enough to really get through to people. So many people claim to be fluent when their barely at a third graders comprehension. I myself am conversational. It makes a world of diference and can really save someones life. If you are learning spanish keep up with it. Ed, L&D, any outpt clinic see the most Spanish speakers. JasonRN

Any of the things you listed here are serious. All should be reported immediately. This nurse has gotten arrogant. Even if the person only needs rehydration, she doesn't know if there is an electrolyte imbalance which can be deadly. In an ED this would normally be drawn while rehydrating the pt. Hyper/hypo kalemia/calcemia are life threatening problems. How assenine. In regards to the home health nurse complaining about the good meds being taken. You need to contact the directer of HH as well as the nursing board. We should never be using a patients medications after they pass. This could lead to abuse of the meds and perhaps stealing while the patient is alive. What kind of moron brags about this? Stay away from this person and the next time they start t alking about this crap tell them frankly that you won't put up with that kind of ****. More importantly the nurse may be feeling guilty and trying to find support don't give it to her. We don't want her/him doing this ever again. By law you are culpable if anyone find out you knew and did nothing. We have our professional reputations on the line. Thank you for being brave enough to talk about this. Its a hard palce to be in and you may not feel comfortable taking this on by yourself. Find a nurse at another hospital and talk to their supervisor about what to do. They can give you the support and advice you need to do what's right. I hope everything works out for you. JP

Check out the salaries in your area. Most MA top out at around 13-14 dollars an hour. I was making 14.25 but I'm bilingual with experience as a military medic and a BA in another field so I'm not normal. Most other MAs I met were making closer to 10 an hour. Most LPN start out in our area at least 15-16 dollars an hour. I know pay shouldn't be a primary but as someone with a kid it might influence your decision long term.

I'm a year into an FNP program in Cincinnati. Most folks I've talked to have said that FNP is more desirable. In fact there were 2 in my PNPs in my class coming back for the FNP to increase their marketability. However, I've found that most FNP programs are heavy on the adults and very, very light on the Peds. If you know that you want to only work with kids particularly in a speciality (hem/OC, developmental etc) talk to them about what they are looking for. If you want to do primary care then FNP might be better. Long term I plan to work oversees in medical missions so I know I'll be seeing a lot of kids. I'm trying to fill all of my electives with peds wherever possible. I think the most important thing is knowing the setting you want to work in and then finding professionals in that setting that help guide you. The schools can be helpful but they have their own agenda (graduation rates, enrollment, bragging rights etc). -Jason

I worked for 6 yrs as an MA before going back to school to be an RN. Here's what I found to be the biggest benefit to being an MA. Very low stress levels. Your biggest stress will be scared parents and hurried schedules which can be stressful but generally much less than that of a nurse. The MA tends to have very set hours. Since fewer people work in an office they aren't as able to be as flexible unless you work part time anyway. LPN make a whole lot more money and there are a lot of options. MA have virtually no chance to do anything different if you get bored or need more money. LPN can easily move up to RN. MA start generally from ground zero. The length of the programs tend to be about the same for about the same cash. Go for LPN. If you want to work in a doctors office you can always do it as an LPN and command an extra 3-4 dollars an hour. Something else to consider is if your MA program is CMA or RMA. The standards are very different from program to program. I think the market is going to be flooded with MA in a couple of years. All of the false advertising is leading people to the schools thinking this is a stepping stone when its not. No one should 20k for a job that makes 25K a year when they could pay 20K for a job that pays 30K starting out. I've met a lot of MAs who haven't been able to find much work here in Ohio. Run my friend run from the MA school. Jason